Rarities underwater

Luiz Rocha

Luiz Rocha

Salty Dog
Well, I am traveling (for a change) and have some time to spend in the net while waiting for a connecting flight. So, I decided to post some underwater photos (which I love doing) of some of the rare fish that I see and photograph but unfortunately never keep.

Some of these are pretty rare, so it would be great if you post here if you ever had one of these swimming in your tank, I am really curious about that.

Starting with Centropyge nahacki:
nahacki.jpg

Photographed at 30m depth in Johnston Atoll.
 
And here one of my personal favorites, a pair of Genicanthus personatus:

G_personatus1.jpg


G_personatus2.jpg


Photographed at 20m deep in Pearl and Hermes Atoll (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands).

I hear these guys sell for $10k+ :eek1: is that right???
 
Of those three, C. tinkeri is the only one available. Expensive, but available. AFAIK, only one C. nahacki is in captivity (Waikiki Aquarium), and three (?) G. personatus (in Asia).
 
Wow, amazing shots, thanks for posting them! I'd love to see more pics if you've got them :)
 
Thanks for the comments guys! Interesting that those fish never make it to the market. Coincidentally, I took that C. nahacki photo during the trip where we collected the specimens for the Waikiki aquarium.

Ok, so here are some more, this guy is a very nice angelfish from the west African coast, Holacanthus africanus, first the juvenile:
angel2.jpg


And the adult:
Angel.jpg


Does this ever make it to the market? I think it would be relatively easy to keep in smaller tanks as it does not grow very large. The largest individuals I saw were about 15cm long.

Rachen, another coincidence, right now I am in Sao Paulo (Sao Carlos to be more precise) giving a seminar and talking to people at the University here.

More to come later...
 
Aficanus do occasionally come in, but the subdued adult colors dont make them desireable to any but the heavy duty enthusiasts. The bright juvie colors are usually only seen on TINY individuals. These guys seems to morph to adult colorations quickly.
 
Yes, they do morph very early, I think between 3 and 4 cm, but I still find the adults attractive, although not as much as some of the other angels. The juveniles are just spectacular, too bad they don't last very long.
 
How about this guy? Prognathodes marcellae, also from west Africa:
P_marcellae.jpg

This one is not very common and lives in deeper water, I think the shallowest I saw it was about 20m deep...
 
Luiz, fantastic photos. I recently started delving into underwater photography, and have discovered it's another expensive hobby. :) It must be thrilling to get to photograph such rarities. Last year, I had the opportunity to visit Durban, and had hoped to capture some photos of the kingi angel. But I got skunked. Fortunately, I did get to photograph some Zebrasoma gemmatums. One thing I noticed, is how us aquarist get excited about organisms that other divers don't.
 
Luiz, you are making my job very easy finding great photos to add to my library of photos. I am a complete nerd and fiend for fish pics. I love the pics, but what I love more is imagining the amazing sights and experiences you have had spending time in the environment with these great animals. So envious!!!!! If there were a new member of the month than Luiz wins hands down. So nice to see some threads other than can I put my yellow tang in with a scopas tang and will my clown trigger eat my cleaner shrimp. Don't get me wrong I am guilty of starting some very repetitive threads as well. Blah blah blah. T
 
As far as marcellae, they are available, but only to those who eagarly seek them out. Most people will see a a conpic or a clarion and say wow, but except for those who are nutty like some of us, the marcellae wouldn't garner a second look from most. That bfly looks very small. Which makes it extremely yummy!! Are there many outfits collecting in this area? What is marcellae's range. Have any shots of A. kingi while getting wet in Africa? Thanks and really appreciate your posts and insight. T
 
The butterflyfish also needs a cooler deepwater reeftank, if I remember right. Still, I love that Genus. Get more pics! LOL

Matthew
 
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